Blue Monday
'''Blue Monday '''is the first episode of the Eureka Seven anime. It premiered in Japan on April 17th, 2005, and premiered in English on April 15th, 2006. Overview Renton Thurston is a fourteen year-old lifter living in Bell Forest. He is an avid fan of Ray=out, and wishes to be a member of the Gekkostate. He lives with his Granfather, Axel Thurston, who is a mechanic, and wishes for Renton take on the business instead of becoming a "hero" and joining the military. Renton's compact drive begins glowing and shows the name Eureka. Shortly after, a white LFO crashes into his room, and the pilot, a beautiful young girl, Eureka, asks him to repair it. Renton begins the repairs and notices the LFO is the legendary Nirvash typeZERO, and has no compact drive. The girl suddenly leaves with the partially-fixed LFO to stop military missles and KLFs from attacking Bell Forest. Renton is in conflict about whether or not he should follow, when Axel gives him the Amita Drive. Renton then gives chase to Eureka on his motorbike with his lift board, and in conclusion to the epsiode, goes off the cliff near one of his favorite lift spots, which earlier had been demolished by the military. Synopsis The episode begins with a cloudy sky, and someone talking about how the real value of media stems from the memories it leaves them. The person speaking is the character named Stoner, and the pilot of the mecha he is on is Mattieu, who tells him to stop talking and radios their leader asking if he's planning to re-join them anytime soon. The leader, Holland, tells Matthieu to zip it, and to look down and see they're really going at it down below. Matthieu tells Stoner that it's almost time to get ready, and Stoner continues talking about memory and media. Just then, several mecha come flying past Matthieu's mecha, three chasing a third but having zero luck. It dodges the traditional barrage of missiles, and then Holland makes a stunning move that Matthieu identifies as a Cutback Drop Turn to take out the other mechas. Matthieu radios back to the base that they're still on schedule, and Talho tells them to proceed. Holland is less than thrilled at heading to their destination: Bellforest. This prompts Talho to get on his case because the whole thing was his idea. Holland looks at a picture of an older man with a young boy and grown girl whose face is marked out, and it is speculated to be the blame for Holland's uneasiness. In a messy room, filled with sky-surfing paraphenalia including a poster of Holland on his board, Renton Thurston hears over the radio that the conditions are right for a batch of waves. He is thrilled by the news, grabbing his board, and heading outside on his motorcycle. Renton narrates that he is 14-years-old and is unhappy that nothing amazing has ever happened to him. He hopes to do something incredible and unthinkable, but he has the feeling that that will never happen. Getting his board repaired, Renton tries to convince the mechanic, Mistah Uno that he really can do the Cutback Drop Turn, but the man says he can't because he doesn't believe in the waves. He tells Renton that Holland can do it because he is a genius and where he learned is better for that sort of thing. He gives up after Renton refuses to change his mind and surprises the boy by not charging him for the work, stating that the board is a parting gift. With Renton as his only customer, the mechanic says he is moving to the city to pick up some real work, much to Renton's disappointment. Renton lives in Bellforest, and although it doesn't look too bad, Renton calls it a dirty town and hates it. His hate for the town stems from the fact that the level of trapar waves are to weak for him to lift. At his school, his class learns about the Transparence Light Particle phenomenon (or trapar waves) and the events that led to the design of the Compac Drive, called the Summer of Love. It could have destroyed mankind and the planet, but the person who stopped the diaster was a military scientist named Adroc Thurston, Renton's father. Renton is not interested in the lesson and prefers to read his magazines. There's a commotion as a giant Scub Coral quickly grows through their school. The teacher calls for self-study as the kids look at the new addition. Two boys start to tell Renton about how his father thought the Compac Drive was a message from God, and his sister went off to prove their father did save the world. However, this angers Renton who responds by fighting with the boys. He later retreats to the roof, where three girls are talking about the latest edition of ''ray=out. ''They talk about how everyone thinks the members of the Gekkostate are untrustworthy felons. Renton stares at his Compac Drive and thinks back when he last saw his sister; she told him that if he can believe, it'll happen. His Compac Drive flashes the word "Eureka", and he smiles warmly at it, which causes the girls to think he's weird. At a meeting with the guidance counselor, the teacher says that Renton's grades aren't very good, but being his father's son, he could probably get into military school if he wants to. His grandfather, Axel, angrily rejects this, saying no one in his house is going into the military and Renton is better off becoming a mechanic like him. He takes Renton out to eat, and wonders what he did to bring up a kid like him. Renton narrates that he can put all this behind as long as he's got his favorite hill and his waves. To his horror, the military has taken over the hill as a new LFO testing site. That night, Renton figures that even if Holland is a criminal, he's still trade places with him in a second. Just then, his Compatic Drive flashes the word "Eureka" again, which Renton says is the third time this month. He indulges in some fantasies about what it really means, when Axel comes into Renton's room, calling it a sty and says mechanics like Renton will have neat rooms. They bicker about who's doing what and whether Renton's dreams to join the Gekkostate are stupid. Elsewhere, an LFO piloted by a girl named Eureka is coming close by towards the Thurston Garage. Axel thinks that Renton's board is the reason for all of the boy's nonsense and snatches it to throw it away. Renton chases after him, but they both pause as the LFO comes surfing in, and performs a Cutback Drop turn, to Renton's amazement. It then crashes into his room, and Renton says that the LFO is nothing like he's ever seen. Axel says it is the Nirvash Type Zero. The cockpit opens and Eureka appears, calling the LFO a kid and it needs help. Renton stares at her before blushing and agreeing to help her. Axel calls in some help to fix the garage, and pulls out a box found by Adroc, and regrets him ever coming across it in the first place. Renton looks at the interesting features of the LFO, and notices that it doesn't have a Compact Drive. He turns to say something to his grandfather but finds Eureka instead. She doesn't mind him observing the Nirvash and asks if she can borrow a flamethrower to make up for destroying his room. Renton says yes and asks why the Nirvash doesn't have a Compac drive. Eureka says she never needed one before. He offers to lend her his Compac Drive, saying he's a professional mechanic and machines have feelings too. Eureka surprises him by saying that was common knowledge. She leaves to get the flamethrower, and Renton tells his sister that Eureka is everything he ever thought of, even if she is a little weird. Then, he wonders why she would need the flamethrower and sees that she has burned the remains of his room to give them a funeral. He tries to stomp out the flames and mourns for his burned shoes, which causes Eureka to laugh. Meanwhile, Holland, Stoner, and Matthieu are watching at a distance, and Matthieu asks why they didn't go up and ask for Axel to fix the Nirvash, but Holland is reluctant to explain. He complains about Renton looking like somebody and the creepy waves. Back at the garage, the Nirvash is reading an error message after the Drive has been installed, and Eureka thinks the Drive should be taken out. She goes on about how believing in things can lead to great misfortune, and Renton tries to agrue against her when Axel shows up with Adroc's box. He offers it to Eureka and explains that his family was torn apart because of it, but if she wants it, she must never return. The conversation is interrupted by a missle strike, and Eureka starts the Nirvash in gear and the Thurstons are thrown aside. Eureka gives them a regretful look before taking off into the sky. The military mechs that launched the missiles argue about whether or not the Nirvash needs to be taken in pieces or not. The commander orders that it be taken to pieces, and they launch a flight of LFOs after the Nirvash. Renton and Axel watch Eureka duel with the other LFOs, and Axel orders Renton to take the gizmo, the Amita drive, to Eureka. Renton rides his motorcycle to the one place he could get enough waves to lift his board to the battle, namely a cliff. While plummeting towards the ground, Renton starts to wonder if leaping into a gorge was a smart idea. Major Events *Introduction of Renton, Eureka, Holland, Talho, Matthieu, Stoner, and Axel. *Introduction of the Nirvash TypeZERO, lifting, trapar waves, Summer of Love, Compac Drive, and Amita Drive. *Renton falls in love with Eureka at first sight. *Renton makes Eureka laugh, a turning point in the series's plot and the beginning of their relationship. Trivia *The name of this episode is a reference to "Blue Monday" by New Order. *In the novel series of Eureka Seven, the first volume is called Blue Monday. *Ref board stands for Reflection board and LFO stands for Light Finding Operation. *Lifting is surfing on air waves called trapars and a cut-drop-turn is a real surfing move. *Although his father is praised for being a hero, Renton hates his father and believes he abandoned the family for his research. *Renton falls in love with Eureka at first sight and confesses to her before he even knows her name, but she doesn't understand what the term "love' means. *In later episodes, it is revealed that Eureka will choose her partner if he is able to make her truly smile. Her first ever smile occurs in this episode, so Eureka unknowingly chose Renton as her partner, which she won't realize until 25 episodes later. Category:Eureka Seven